Geopolitics and Culture from ISIS to Afghanistan

CULANTH (211FS)

Study of countries on the geographical periphery of the commonly defined Middle East: Bosnia, Turkey, Armenia, Chechnya, Iran, and Afghanistan. All of these countries have deep Middle Eastern ties and traditions, sizeable communities with Middle Eastern origins and connections, and recent histories of cultural and ethnic conflict and violence. Exploration of how the Middle Eastern components and histories in these conflicts have been distorted and obscured as the conflicts have been depicted through the lenses of U.S. or Soviet/Russian geopolitical interests. One course.